Happy Feast of St. Sebastian, Martyr. This is a brief synopsis of St. Sebastian on his Feast Day!
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St. Sebastian, Martyr
St. Sebastian lived in the third century after Christ. In 283, Sebastian joined the army in Rome and became a Captain of the Praetorian Guard (i.e. the imperial bodyguard of the Roman Empire) under emperors Diocletian and Maximian.
St. Sebastian secretely converted souls. One woman had been a mute for 6 years. However as soon as she made known to Sebastian her desire to be converted to Christianity, her speech returned to her.
Sebastian had prudently concealed his faith, but in 286 it came out. Emperor Diocletian reproached him for his betrayal, and (i) commanded him to be led to a field, (ii) there to be bound to a stake and (iii) to be shot at by some archers from Mauritania.
According to tradition, "And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as a hedgehog is full of pricks, and thus left him there for dead."
Miraculously, the arrows did not kill him. The widow of Castulus, St. Irene of Rome, went to retrieve his body to bury it, and she discovered he was still alive. She brought him back to her house and nursed him back to health.
Once recovered, St. Sebastian later stood by a staircase where the emperor was to pass and rebuked Diocletian for his cruelties against the Christians. Diocletian ordered him to be beaten to death with clubs, and his body thrown into the common sewer.
A Christian woman (called Lucina), admonished by the martyr in a vision, secretely removed his body, and buried it in the catacombs at the entrance of the cemetery of Calixtus, where now stands the Basilica of St. Sebastian.
Catholic Imagery
In Catholic imagery, he is one of the few saints that is most commonly portrayed with the means of martyrdom that did not kill him.
He is usually depicted as a man with a linen cloth, tied with his hands behind (or above his head) to a pillar or tree, showing his body pierced with arrows.
Sometimes one can see a an officer’s helmet, shield or sword next to his eet.
Less common are images of the saint in Roman or medieval armor. Representation with a bow or a club can also be found, but are rare.
Patronage
St. Sebastian is the patron saint of archers, archery guilds, soldiers, hunters, war invalids, and many other professions.
He was invoked against sore throats, diarrhea, fever, dumbness, insanity, soars, leprosy and the plague.
Feast Day
St. Sebastian died in 286 AD. His feast day is on the 20th of January.
